10 Takeaways From AHF Live

November 16, 2018                      By: Donna Kimura, Christine Serlin

From Opportunity Zones to the LIHTC market, there was no shortage of topics at AHF's annual conference.

Here are 10 quick takeaways from AHF Live: The Affordable Housing Developers Summit held Nov. 12-14 in Chicago.

Nearly 1,200 developers, finance executives, housing officials, and service providers gathered for the annual event, which featured informative workshops and high-level discussions of the industry's hot-button issues.

1. To-do List

The No. 1 priority for LIHTC advocates is to get a fixed 4% floor for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) generated by tax-exempt private-activity bonds. Novogradac & Co. has estimated that more than 65,000 additional affordable homes could be financed from 2019 to 2028 if the rate were fixed.

The industry is looking to see where legislation for the 4% fix and other housing tax credit improvements could get attached during the lame-duck Congress.

“We’re going to push really hard. I’m optimistic that we can get something done, and we’re going to be pushing really hard for all of you to get that 4% fix,” said Bob Moss, principal and national director of governmental affairs at CohnReznick............Read More

Why affordable housing is scarce in progressive cities

November 16, 2018                      By: Patrick Sisson

Plenty of factors can explain the crisis of housing affordability plaguing U.S. cities—a shortage of new construction, a lack of tenant protection, greedy developers and speculators, or a lack of upzoning. But according to San Francisco-based housing activist Randy Shaw, author of Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America, one of the true challenges is the entrenched power and privilege of an older generation of homeowners.

San Francisco, California | Shutterstock

“No progressive city posts “Priced Out: Only the Affluent Allowed” signs in it neighborhoods,” he writes in the book’s introduction.“But that’s what’s happened.”

Shaw, who runs the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in San Francisco, has a first-hand understanding of the causes of today’s crisis, having witnessed his city’s transformation over the last few decades into a poster child for extreme housing costs. He also knows many of the traditional solutions, having pushed for the tenant protections that make San Francisco a progressive beacon for renter’s rights.....................Read More

Enacting a Phased-in 50 Percent LIHTC Allocation Increase Could Create More Than 264,000 Affordable Rental Homes

November 9, 2018                                         By: Dirk Wallace, Michael Novogradac, Peter Lawrence

While tax reform is projected to reduce the amount of affordable rental housing production financed by the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) by about 235,000 over 10 years, there existed prior to tax reform and still exists today after tax reform, a tremendous unmet need for more production. According to Harvard’s Joint Center on Housing Studies, more than 11 million renter households pay more than 50 percent of their income on rent. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. has a shortage of more than 7.2 million rental homes that are affordable and available to extremely low-income households. The provision of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (S. 548) that would have the biggest impact on that need remains the provision to enact a permanent 50 percent allocation increase, phased in at 10 percent annually over 2019-2023................Read More

Affordable Housing Wins at the Ballot Box in 2018

November 8, 2018                        By: Jared Brey

Gregorio Casar spent Election Day trying to calm his nerves. Casar, a second-term city councilman in Austin, wasn’t up for election on Tuesday, but voters were slated to decide on a $250 million affordable housing bond measure that he helped craft. He got to his polling place at 6 a.m., an hour before it opened, and says he “wasn’t even close to being the first in line.” It was a high-energy election. Texas Democrats were fired up by the prospect that the Congressman Beto O’Rourke of El Paso might pull off an upset and unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz. And outside the state, it seemed like the whole country was at stake.

A city hall rally held by the Keep Austin Affordable coalition in June 2018.

When the votes were counted, O’Rourke had narrowly lost, but Austin’s Proposition A had passed with flying colors, earning more than 73 percent of the vote.

“When we were first putting this package together, there were a lot of people who I really respect who said that a $250 million housing bond was a failure out of the gate,” Casar says. “Last night, all across Texas, but in Central Texas especially, our communities showed that the world of the possible is much broader than people might have imagined when people show up and fight and are inspired, and when people show up and vote.”....................Read More

Healthy, Well-Designed Multifamily Projects Can Also be Affordable

October 30, 2018                   By: Travis Gonzalez

Woodlawn Station - Courtesy of Skender

At Woodlawn Station, residents have access to a computer room, a roof deck and a community room. On the first floor, 15K SF of retail will play host to local businesses. The complex's design is modern, with metal panels on the exterior, exposed ductwork, white concrete ceilings and kitchen islands made from recycled materials.

Some of the apartments even have a view of Downtown Chicago.

This isn’t a Class-A apartment high-rise cropping up in one of Chicago's wealthiest neighborhoods; it is a mixed-income development set to revitalize the Woodlawn community in Chicago's South Side.

Woodlawn Station, and similar projects across Chicago and the U.S., have started to embrace designs that go beyond simply providing a shelter for an underserved population. They are creating amenities that improve the well-being of the communities the developments serve. For Skender, which served as the base building and interior construction manager, Woodlawn Station is a testament to how smart design and efficient construction practices can improve how developers approach affordable housing projects................. Read More

What Happens When Affordability Restrictions Expire for Half a Million Homes?

October 22, 2018                By: Jared Brey

As rents continue to rise more quickly than incomes across the U.S., cities have become increasingly focused on affordable housing: How to pay for it, where to put it, and how to keep it from disappearing.

(Credit: NLIHC/PAHRC)

Hundreds of thousands of affordable units created under one of the biggest federal housing programs ever could start disappearing soon, in a manner of speaking. According to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation, nearly half a million units created with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) could be lost in the next ten years.

Most LIHTC (“ly-tek”) units are required to remain affordable for 30 years, the report notes. The LIHTC program was created in 1987, and the affordability requirements have started to expire on the first funded units. Between 2020 and 2029, more than 485,000 units will reach year 30, and could become unaffordable to low-income residents — including their existing tenants — without additional subsidy, the report says................Read More

Nearly 500,000 LIHTC Units at Risk of Being Lost

October 18, 2018                      By: Christine Serlin

Report details challenges of properties reaching Year 30 between 2020 and 2029.

Almost half a million low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) units will reach their 30-year mark and the end of their federally mandated affordability restrictions between 2020 and 2029, according to a joint report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corp. (PAHRC).

Daniel Yentel

According to the report, this amounts to nearly one-quarter of all current LIHTC units. These 486,799 LIHTC units, which are located in over 8,400 properties, do not receive other types of subsidies that would extend their affordability. In addition, without new capital investment for rehabilitation, these units also are at risk of physical deterioration.

Based on data from the National Housing Preservation Database and other sources, Balancing Priorities: Preservation and Neighborhood Opportunity in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program Beyond Year 30 details what’s at risk, the challenges that lie ahead for preserving the existing affordable housing stock, and solutions for a housing safety net.............Read More